Monday, September 29, 2008

On Fashioning Analogies

I consider the art of analogy the number one indicator of intelligence.

In Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural Nörth Daköta, Chuck Klosterman tries to capture in analogy the differences between Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen and succeeds: 

"Listening to Clapton is like getting a sensual massage from a woman you've loved for the past ten years; listening to Van Halen is like having the best sex of your life with three foxy nursing students you met at the Tastee Freez."* 

While I trust that I won't need to employ such modifiers such as "foxy" into rhetoric battle, I hope that I will be able to fashion analogies like his. 


*This analogy would, of course, explain why I would choose Blind Faith, Cream, or Derek and the Dominoes over Van Halen.  It also explains why my husband prefers the Van Halen of the David Lee Roth years. 

2 comments:

Flem said...

I love the word "foxy". Really dates someone.

I too aspire to these types of analogies but when I do it is inevitably in front of someone upon whom the humor is lost. Around witty people I fail to entertain...

Deb to the Izzle said...

Reading Tara's insightful blog is like gulping down an ice cold glass of milk after gorging down a rich ghirardelli chocolate brownie. Refreshing, yet so intoxicatingly sweet.